Metallic Reflections
by Shadowmjl
Summary: Really bad summary, Eggman creates robot versions of Tails, Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, Vector, Espio and Big and tries to take over Station Square with them. Some ShadRouge btw.
1. The return of Eggman

-1My first **real** fanfic so don't be too harsh, k. BTW Sonic and all related characters are property of Sega and I don't own them. On with chapter 1.

**Metallic Reflections**

Chapter 1-The return of Eggman

Sonic the Hedgehog lay on a hilltop on the outskirts of Station Square watching the sun rise, "Things have been pretty good lately; Tails's managed to upgrade the Tornado again, Knuckles's been able to guard the Master Emerald in peace now that Rouge isn't bugging him anymore, and even Shadow's been doing okay, ever since the whole Black Arms thing he's been acting, well, nice, he's more sociable now, and best of all; nobody's heard from Eggman in weeks." Just then Sonic heard someone calling his name, the blue hedgehog sat up and looked around to see Amy Rose running up the hill towards him, "Oh man, well, guess you can't have everything." Sonic thought, then he saw Amy looked worried, scared, "Amy, what's wrong?" Sonic asked

"It's Eggman, he's back." Amy replied

"Eggman! So much for not hearing from him. Where is he?"

"Downtown Station Square, Tails's fighting him now in the Cyclone but he can't hold out much longer, Sonic please hurry." Amy begged, Sonic nodded and raced down the hill towards the city. Meanwhile Tails was battling a large group of egg pawns in the Cyclone while Eggman hovered above in his egg-mobile, Eggman laughed at Tails, "Give it up Tails, there are too many for you to handle." the fox glared at Eggman, "I'll never give up Eggman, don't forget; I've beaten you before."

"True, but back then I didn't have an army of robots to help me." the doctor laughed. Then an Egg pawn appeared carrying a rocket launcher, he took aim at Tails, suddenly the robot exploded, Tails and Eggman both looked around to try and see what destroyed the robot, Tails then saw a blue blur streak past him, "Sonic!!" he cried, Sonic then stopped in front of Eggman, "Whaddya want this time Egg head?" he asked, Eggman glared at his enemy, "As always hedgehog; I want your head. Now behold; the Egg Carrier 3!" Eggman pressed a button on the Egg-mobile's console and an enormous ship appeared above Station Square, Eggman laughed maniacally, "And that's not all," Eggman pressed another button and a hatch opened on the underside of the Egg Carrier and several large robots jumped out and crashed into the city streets. The robots looked just like Egg pawns except they were three times as tall, had thick, grey armour and large cannons for hands, one robot aimed a gun at Sonic, suddenly the robot's arm exploded, Sonic looked up and saw a black and red hedgehog standing at the top of a skyscraper, "Shadow, thanks pal, I owe you one." Sonic said, Shadow leapt off the building and began to spin straight towards another robot, which was firing at him, the other robots were firing at Sonic and Tails. Tails quickly fired and blasted a robots head off while Sonic spun through the chest of another. Sonic and Shadow landed next to each other, "You owe me five." Shadow said

"How d'you work that out." Sonic asked, Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at a robot, "That thing with Amy counts too." he said, the two hedgehogs smirked at each other before continuing the fight. When all the robots were destroyed Sonic, Shadow and Tails turned their attention to Eggman, "You lose Egg head." said Sonic smiling, strangely Eggman was smiling too, "Oh this isn't over yet Sonic." he said, "You see, while you three have been fighting my robots Metal Sonic is over on the other side of Station Square stealing a Chaos Emerald from the museum."

"You mean **this** Chaos Emerald?" a voice called, everyone looked over to where the voice had come from and saw a red echidna standing on top of a small building holding a light blue Chaos Emerald, Eggman looked shocked, "Knuckles, how did you get that emerald?" he asked, Knuckles smiled, "Metal Sonic _gave _it to me, he isn't so tough."

Sonic chuckled, "Nice goin' Knuckles."

"Agh, I'm not finished yet hedgehog!" Eggman shouted as he pressed another button on his console, another large robot fell from the Egg Carrier and landed in front of Sonic and the others, this robot was five times the size of an Egg pawn and had spiked wrecking balls for hands. Eggman landed his Egg-mobile on the robots head and the two combined, "This is the Egg Breaker 2, and I doubt even you can stop **this **Sonic." Eggman said confidently, Sonic smirked, "We'll see, Knuckles, Shadow, how 'bout we hit this thing with a fire dunk?" Knuckles jumped down from the building he was standing on and landed next to Sonic and Shadow who started spinning, Knuckles held out his arms and Sonic and Shadow began spinning around them. Knuckles leapt into the air and threw Sonic and Shadow at Eggman, the two hedgehogs blasted through the Egg Breaker, as the robot exploded Eggman flew away as fast as he could in his damaged Egg-mobile. The four friends gathered together and watched the Egg Carrier fly away, "So, Eggman's decided to take us on again huh?" Sonic said smiling, "Well, I say we go after him and take that ship apart before ol' Egg head does any real damage."

"Sorry Sonic," said Knuckles, "I gotta get back to the Master Emerald, I only came here in the first place because I saw the Egg Carrier flying over Angel Island."

"No problem Knuckles. We can handle it, right guys?" Sonic said, Tails held his thumb up while Shadow folded his arms and smiled.


	2. Metal Sonic

Chapter 2-Metal Sonic

A few minutes later Sonic, Shadow and Tails were chasing down the Egg Carrier 3. "There it is!" Tails shouted as the trio ran across an immense grassy plane, "Shadow, do your thing." Sonic said, Shadow nodded and held up a green Chaos Emerald, "Chaos Control!" the three disappeared in a flash of white light and reappeared on the Egg Carrier, "Okay, Eggman's gotta be around here somewhere." Sonic said as he looked around, "Maybe we should split up to cover more ground." Shadow suggested

"No, it's too dangerous for us to be walking round here alone." Sonic said

"Well then you two look together, I can take care of myself." Shadow said

"It's still too risky for you to be on your own here." Sonic insisted

"Well then how 'bout I go with him?" a voice called, the three friends looked up to see a white bat standing on a platform looking down at them, "Rouge? What're you doing here?" Shadow asked, Rouge leapt down from the platform and landed gracefully in front of the three boys, "What I do best, seems the ol' doc's got his hands on a Chaos Emerald or two, so I've come here to, borrow them." Rouge explained, "You mean steal them." Tails said

"Do you know where the emeralds are?" Shadow asked as he folded his arms, "No, I've been looking around this place for at least twenty minutes but I can't find them, or feel them." Rouge replied

"They must be under an anti chaos shield." Tails said, "The shield prevents the chaos energy from the Chaos Emeralds escaping so nothing can detect them, but it's really dangerous, all that energy's just building up, eventually, boom."

"Then we have to find those emeralds before this whole ship goes up with us on it." Sonic said, "Okay, Tails and I'll check the left side of the ship while Shadow and Rouge search the right side." and with that the four separated. Sonic and Tails searched through several rooms but couldn't't find anything, eventually Tails said "We've checked all the rooms except that one so the emerald's gotta be in there." the young fox pointed to a door at the end of the corridor the two friends were in. Sonic slid the door open and peered inside, it was very dark in the room, all Sonic could see was a glass tube in the middle, inside the tube was a pedestal with a red Chaos Emerald on it, "There it is." said Sonic as he stepped into the room, the pair walked over to the tube, "This must be the anti chaos shield, I don't know if you can break it." Tails said, meanwhile Sonic had frozen, his eyes fixed on a pair of red lights burning in the dark on the other side of the tube, Tails noticed the lights too, then the room echoed the sound of metallic clanking as a figure stepped out of the dark, the owner of the red eyes was a royal blue robot; "Metal Sonic." Sonic said as the robot stepped into the light.

Meanwhile Shadow and Rouge were in the control room for the Egg Carrier, Shadow eyed the main computer terminal, "Rouge, d'you think you could cut the power to the ship?" he asked, Rouge was studying a map of the ship, "I think so, but why." she replied, "Because if the power's off then so will those anti chaos shields which're keeping us from finding the Chaos Emeralds." Shadow answered, Rouge walked over to the terminal and began typing, "If the power's completely cut then this thing'll drop like a stone, but if I can target the main engine power and shut down all systems other then the engines then the ship'll completely shut down but it'll still be in the air." After a minute all the lights went out and Shadow heard all the machinery stop, all that remained was the gentle hum of the engines. Rouge closed her eyes and focused for a second, "I got it." she said triumphantly, the pair then made their way out of the control room and followed the signal from the emerald.

Tails watched helplessly as Metal threw Sonic into the glass tube, shattering it, Sonic slumped onto the ground as Metal marched toward him, then Tails saw a metal pole lying on the floor near him, he grabbed it and swung the pole at Metal, hitting him hard in the side of the head. Metal stumbled and Sonic took this opportunity to spin into his robotic counterpart at full speed, Metal crashed through the wall and fell into the engine room. Metal quickly activated his turbine engine and flew around the room while Sonic jumped through the hole in the wall Metal made, Metal landed a few metres away from Sonic and the two raced towards each other and began fighting again. Meanwhile Tails ran over to the pedestal and grabbed the Chaos Emerald, as he did a second glass tube lowered around him, he was trapped, suddenly Tails felt a blinding pain as electricity streamed around the inside of the tube. Elsewhere on the ship a steel door was blasted apart by a Chaos Spear, Shadow and Rouge walked into a large, dark room with two white circles in the centre. Because the room was so dark neither saw the circles and Rouge walked over one, as she did a glass tube suddenly came up from around the edge of the circle, trapping the bat. Shadow rushed over to Rouge and tried to break the glass but failed, then Rouge was electrocuted just as Tails was, Shadow pounded on the glass as hard as he could, it seemed unbreakable, but Shadow wasn't one to give up, he leapt into the air and threw several Chaos Spears at the upper half of the tube, well away from Rouge so she wouldn't be harmed, the spears barely scratched the glass. Shadow then heard footsteps behind him, he turned sharply to see several black and red hedgehogs walking towards him, "Shadow Androids." he said, suddenly the tube Rouge was in lowered and the bat collapsed, Shadow ran over to her and knelt beside her, he felt her pulse, "She's alive, just unconscious." he said with relief, then the dark hedgehog turned to the androids baring down on him, "You fakers obviously don't know who you're up against; I'm the Ultimate Life Form, Shadow the Hedgehog!" Shadow shouted as he charged at the machines before him.

Finally the tube Tails was in raised itself and the young fox fell to the floor, Sonic, meanwhile, kicked Metal in the head and spun into the robot, sending him backwards. Metal hit a wall hard, he then charged at Sonic and slashed at him with his razor sharp claws, Sonic dodged the attacks but was unprepared for a kick Metal delivered to his chest, Sonic was propelled backwards and back through the hole in the wall. The blue hedgehog landed next to Tails, who lay unconscious on the floor, clutching the Chaos Emerald in his hand, when Sonic saw his friend hurt he exploded, he grabbed the emerald and began to absorb it's energy, meanwhile Metal flew over to the hole in the wall and now stood perfectly still, glaring at Sonic.


	3. Dark Sonic

Okay I'll try to make it good from here I swear. Please comment so I know where to improve.

Chapter 3-Dark Sonic

Shadow punched a hole through the chest of the last android and watched as it fell to the floor, sparks flying out in all directions, he then walked over to Rouge's body, picked her up and carried her out of the room.

Meanwhile Sonic spun at Metal with the energy of the Chaos Emerald flowing through him, Metal dodged the attack and began his own by swinging his claws at Sonic. One of Metal's claws slashed Sonic's arm, the blue hedgehog fell to the ground holding the cut while Metal stood over him, by now Sonic's rage was unbearable, he swung his foot across the ground and tripped Metal, the robot fell to the floor and Sonic brought his foot down on his head, Sonic then climbed to his feet and ran over to Tails and knelt beside him. Sonic held Tails's head, "Come on buddy, wake up." Sonic pleaded, tears in his eyes, "We gotta go home pal, you gotta wake up." then Sonic heard the sound of Metal walking up behind him, he carefully laid Tails's head down, stood up and turned to face his opponent. Metal then attempted to plunge his hand into Sonic, the blue hedgehog quickly grabbed the robot's wrist and stopped the sharp blades less than an inch away from his chest, suddenly Sonic's fur turned black and his eyes went completely white.

Sonic then punched Metal in the face with so much force the robot's chassis was destroyed and Metal fell to the floor. Sonic then kicked Metal hard and reached down and grabbed him round the neck and held him in the air. Sonic then punched Metal in the face again and completely destroyed his head, Sonic let go of Metal and watched as his body slumped onto the cold floor.

Shadow gently laid Rouge down on a table in the Egg Carrier's control room and stood leaning against a wall and tried to figure out what had happened, "All the power had been shut down so whatever was electrocuting Rouge shouldn't have been able to operate, plus what was the point in electrocuting Rouge for a few seconds, then letting her go?" suddenly Shadow heard a massive explosion, the entire Egg Carrier shook as Dark Sonic burst up through the ship. Shadow stared as Dark Sonic floated above the Egg Carrier holding the red and purple Chaos Emeralds, "How did he get-" Shadow thought, "He must've taken the emerald Rouge and I were looking for too." Shadow checked to make sure Rouge was alright after the explosion and ran out to face Dark Sonic.

Meanwhile Tails steadily opened his eyes, he sat up and looked around the room, then his eyes fell on the mangled remains of Metal, "Sonic's completely destroyed him, the only way Sonic could've done this kind of damage is if he changed into Dark Sonic." Tails struggled to stand up and wearily walked out of the room to find Sonic.

Shadow stood on the deck of the Egg Carrier looking up at Sonic hovering high above, "Sonic, you need to calm down, don't do this." Shadow knew full well what Dark Sonic was capable of; he could destroy the ship in seconds, Sonic suddenly disappeared, as Shadow franticly looked around for him he felt Sonic's foot strike his back, Shadow fell forward onto the floor, he rolled over to see Sonic bringing his foot down onto his head. Shadow grabbed Sonic's foot and tried to force it away from his head, Shadow was strong but he couldn't hold out very long against Sonic like this, then Shadow heard something, he looked behind Sonic and saw Rouge deliver an extremely powerful kick to Sonic's head, Shadow watched Sonic fall to the ground, then he saw Rouge holding out her hand to him, Shadow took Rouge's hand and she helped him up, "Thanks Rouge, I don't know how much longer I would've been able to hold him."

Rouge winked, "Anytime, so what ticked him off this time?"

Shadow sighed, "No idea, come on, he's got two Chaos Emeralds with him, we need to get them off him." Shadow stepped towards the seemingly unconscious hedgehog, Sonic then began spinning and knocked Shadow back before flying into the air and crashing down into the control room. The Egg Carrier then began to shake; when Sonic destroyed the control room it disabled the power so the engines were shut down, Sonic then landed a few metres away from Shadow and Rouge, "Rouge, go, get outta here, I can handle Sonic." Shadow said

"No, I am not leaving you alone to fight him." Rouge argued

"And I am not gonna let you get hurt, now go." Shadow insisted, Rouge then looked over and saw Tails emerge from one of the doors to the inside of the ship, she ran over to him, as she ran Sonic began to spin towards Rouge, at the last second Shadow knocked Rouge out of the way and was hit by Sonic, the attack sent Shadow over the edge of the Egg Carrier, Rouge ran to the edge and watched as Shadow disappeared through the clouds. Rouge stood up and turned to Sonic, tears streaming down her cheeks and her face red with anger, "You bastard, I'll kill you for that!" she screamed, Sonic took a step towards the bat when an innocent voice called out, "Sonic, look what you've done." Sonic and Rouge both looked over to see Tails standing a few feet away, tears in his eyes, "Look what's happening, Shadow's your friend, and so is Rouge, and me. Please stop this Sonic." Sonic stared at Tails for a minute, then he hung his head in shame as his fur changed back to the familiar blue and his eyes returned to normal, "I'm sorry Rouge, Tails." Sonic paused, "Shadow." then there was a flash of light behind Sonic, he turned to see Shadow standing there holding the green Chaos Emerald, Rouge ran over and threw her arms around him, Shadow squirmed for a second, shocked by the bat's actions, then he looked over at Sonic and Tails, "Come on, we gotta get outta here before this ship crashes." Shadow said, Sonic and Tails ran over to Shadow and Rouge and Shadow Chaos Controlled all four to safety just seconds before the Egg Carrier crash landed in the desert. As the craft slid across the rocky environment Eggman floated close by, a large smile on his face.


	4. Ruined Reputations

Okay I'll admit the beginning of this chapter is a bit weird, but it's supposed to set up that it's a normal day for Sonic and his friends before all hell breaks loose, enjoy.

Chapter 4-Ruined Reputations

A week later Sonic and his friends were having a day at the beach, Cream, Cheese and Tails were playing in the water, Big was fishing at the end of the pier, Rouge was sunbathing, Shadow was asleep under a tree and Sonic was running around the beach with Amy chasing him. Shadow had been having the same dream all week; he dreamed about all the times Rouge had helped him, "Why does she help me so much?" he thought, "I've never seen Rouge act that way around anyone else." Shadow looked over at Rouge, he completely froze when he saw her lying there in the sand, he couldn't take his eyes off her, then his vision was obscured by a blue hedgehog panting in front of him. Sonic sat down next to Shadow, "Man, Amy doesn't give up easy." Sonic said, then he noticed Shadow was still looking at Rouge, Sonic smiled evilly, "You like her don't you?" Shadow's ears perked up, his face turned red, "Hey it's okay Shadow," Sonic said, "I won't tell anyone." Then Sonic heard someone coming up behind him, "Oh no, it's Amy again." he said as he stood up, then a group of police officers appeared running towards them, the officers drew their guns and aimed at Sonic and Shadow, "Get down on the ground!" one officer shouted

"No way, we didn't do anything." Sonic protested

"Don't play the innocent with me hedgehog," the officer said angrily, "We have footage of you and those freaks you call friends destroying several buildings in Station Square, not to mention about a hundred witnesses."

Shadow stood up, "No one calls our friends freaks." he said through gritted teeth, "Shadow, don't." Sonic said quickly. Meanwhile several officers had snuck up around the beach and now had guns pointed at Big, Cream, Tails and Rouge, Sonic and Shadow heard Creams terrified scream as an officer grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the sea, Tails jumped up at the officer and punched him in the head, the officer fell to the ground, dropping Cream as he fell. Shadow then noticed the officer pointing a gun at Rouge, "Chaos Spear!" the officer was knocked at least ten feet back wards as the spears hit, then the police in front of Shadow and Sonic opened fire on the two hedgehogs as they ran for cover. Tails, Cream, Cheese and Rouge all hid behind a large rock while Sonic and Shadow hid in a sand dune and Amy and Big had both ducked under a pier, Shadow took out his Chaos Emerald and used Chaos Control to warp himself and Sonic over to Tails and the others, "Okay, I'll Chaos Control us over to Amy and Big and then we can get outta here." Shadow said

"But why are they after us in the first place?" asked Tails, Sonic replied, "They said something about destroying some buildings in Station Square, Shadow, warp us all to the centre of the city, maybe we can find out what's going on there." Shadow nodded and warped the group over to the pier, meanwhile the police officers were searching the beach, just before they were seen the group of friends disappeared in a flash of white light. When Sonic, Shadow and the others appeared in the city they saw ruined buildings burning, cars upside down on the sidewalk and people running around screaming, "This is horrible, who could've done this?" asked Amy

"I don't know, but whoever it is isn't gonna get away with this." replied Sonic. The group then began walking through the streets, looking for any clue as to who was responsible for what had happened, after a few minutes Sonic heard someone call his name, he turned to his friends, "Did one of you just say my name?" he asked, the others shook their heads, "Sonic." the voice said again, Sonic looked ahead and saw a purple chameleon materialize in front of him, "Espio, what's up?" Sonic said, "If you want to know why the police are after you follow me." Espio said, he then turned and ran down the street with Sonic and the others following close behind. Eventually Espio lead the gang of friends to the Chaotix HQ, as he entered Sonic saw Vector and Charmy watching something on a large television, Espio walked over to the TV and said, "Take a look at this." everyone gathered round the TV and watched, the footage was apparently filmed by a police helicopter, it showed Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, Vector, Espio, Rouge and Big destroying downtown Station Square. "Whoa, that's us!" shouted Tails, "No it's not, check this out." said Espio as he typed something into a laptop on a table next to the TV, the TV screen zoomed in on Sonic and everyone could see he had red eyes, claws and a turbine engine, "It's Metal Sonic." said Sonic

"So are they **all** robots?" asked Shadow, Espio nodded, then Vector stood up, "So, who do we know who could build these things and would want to ruin our reputations?" he asked sarcastically

"Eggman." Sonic answered

"Do you guys know where he is?" asked Shadow as he folded his arms, Vector shook his head

"Well then how're we supposed to find him and put a stop to these stupid fakes?" asked Rouge frustratingly

"How 'bout we just go back to where the Egg Carrier crashed, there might be something there." Sonic suggested. Later Sonic and Tails were on their way to Angel Island to see if Knuckles would come with them while the others waited at Tails's workshop, as the pair were making their way through the jungle a red blur ran past them, "Knuckles wait!" Sonic called out, the red echidna stopped and ran back to Sonic and Tails, "Guys, have you seen a metal version of me?" Knuckles asked urgently, "No why?" replied Sonic, "He stole the Master Emerald." answered Knuckles

"Really, hmm, interesting." said Tails

"Look Knuckles, Eggman's made robot versions of Tails, Shadow, Rouge, Vector, Espio and you and had Metal Sonic lead them on a little tour of Station Square, we're going out to the Egg Carrier 3's crash site to see if we can find anything, you coming?" asked Sonic

"Do you even need to ask that question? Of course I'm coming, I need to find the Master Emerald and if Eggman's got it then he might try and use it to power some crazy death laser or something, just like last time he stole it."


	5. Knuckle up

Anyone with the longevity to last this far is better than me, seriously even I had trouble reading this far when I checked it to make sure I got out all the stupid little mistakes.

Chapter 5-Knuckle up

An hour later Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Vector, Espio and Big were walking through the desert near Mystic Ruins, little did they know they were being watched by a pair of cold, green eyes.

As the group neared the crash site a maniacal laughter filled the air, everyone looked around for the source of the laughing, Sonic then turned and saw Eggman floating in his Egg-mobile next to a rock with a gleaming red robot standing on it, the robot had black eyes with green irises, a sleek metal frame and two sharp blades attached to each hand, "Say hello to Metal Knuckles." Eggman laughed, Knuckles glared at the robot, "You stole the Master Emerald, now you're gonna pay." the echidna then ran at Metal Knuckles and threw a punch, the robot remained perfectly still, at the last second however it disappeared, "What the-, how'd it do that?" asked Knuckles, Eggman laughed even louder, "You stupid knuckles-head, do you really think I would've gone to all the trouble of building a robot that looks like you and then have it act like any other robot? No, this robot is unique, it was created from your data, which for all you simpletons means he's just as fast as you, as strong as you and he's as intelligent as you." Metal Knuckles then dove down from a tall rock and landed next to Eggman, "Now to unveil my other surprise for you all." Eggman said as he pressed a button on the Egg-mobile's control console.

The sky went dark and everyone looked up to see a gargantuan ship descending through the clouds, the ship was at least twenty times the size of the Egg Carrier, had dark blue armour and was shaped like the Final Fortress from 'Sonic Heroes', "Behold, the Egg Fortress, the greatest ship ever created." Eggman said, "It is completely impenetrable due to the thousands of gun turrets mounted around the outside and inside of the ship and it is equipped with a chaos barrier which prevents **any** chaos powers from being used." Eggman looked over at Shadow, "So no more Chaos Control Shadow."

"Get over yourself." Rouge said annoyed, Eggman glared at the bat, "Hmm, maybe you need to be taught some respect." Eggman then clicked his fingers and Metal Knuckles ran at Rouge, who screamed as the robot charged, just before Metal Knuckles hit Rouge he himself was struck in the side and was catapulted into a rock. Rouge, who had closed her eyes out of fear, slowly opened her eyes to see Shadow standing in front of her, his hand glowing yellow, signalling he had used Chaos Spear. Metal Knuckles climbed out of the hole in the rock he had made on impact, his right eye was cracked, the robot then ran towards Shadow, then Knuckles jumped in front of his robotic double, "Stay out of this Shadow, he's mine." Knuckles said, the two echidnas then glared at each other for a second, waiting for the other to move, then Knuckles got impatient and threw a punch, which Metal Knuckles blocked, then the robot swung it's fist at Knuckles and hit him hard in the face, causing the echidna to fall to the ground.

Metal Knuckles then stood over Knuckles and readied his blades and thrust them towards his enemy, just then Knuckles swept his fist across the ground, tripping the robot, then Knuckles leapt into the air and performed Drill Claw, as Knuckles was about to crash into his opponent Metal Knuckles rolled out of the way, "He really is as fast and strong as I am." said Knuckles, then he got an idea, he smirked as he said, "But I'll bet he can't do this; Thunder Arrow!" suddenly a bolt of yellow lightning fell from the sky and struck Metal Knuckles, while the robot was stunned from the attack Knuckles charged at him and punched Metal Knuckles as hard as he could in the chest, the hit sent Metal Knuckles flying backwards. Metal Knuckles slid across the rocky ground and struggled to get up, by now on top of his damaged eye he had a hole in his chest from the punch from Knuckles and his circuits were damaged from the Thunder Arrow, but still he got up and marched towards Knuckles, he then swung his fist in an attempt to slash Knuckles, but the echidna was ready and blocked the attack before punching his counterpart hard in the face.

Suddenly several Egg Pawns, who had been brought down by a transport shuttle from the Egg Fortress, began attacking everyone, Sonic and Shadow both spin dashed through most of the robots while Rouge used kick attacks to defend Tails, who had no way to attack the oncoming robots, Vector and Big however were using there immense physical strength to decimate the mechanical pests and Espio was using his ninja skills to silently take them out, through all the chaos Knuckles and Metal Knuckles never stopped fighting. Eventually all the Egg Pawns were destroyed and Metal Knuckles lay dead on the ground, Eggman glared at the group of friends, "This isn't the end, those were the easy ones." Eggman then flew away

"Well now that Egg head's gone we need to come up with a plan to take that thing down." Sonic said, looking up at the Egg Fortress

"Eggman said it has a chaos barrier surrounding it so Shadow can't Chaos Control us up there." said Tails

"What if I could fly up there and deactivate the barrier?" asked Rouge

"No way, it's too dangerous," said Shadow quickly, "You heard the doctor; the ship's covered in gun turrets."

"Well what d'you suggest?" Rouge asked

"I'll go." answered Shadow, "All I need is a ramp and a runway."

"But that's even more dangerous; you can't manoeuvre in the air." Rouge argued

"I'd rather take that chance than risk you getting hurt." Shadow said coolly as he folded his arms and closed his eyes, "Shadow," Sonic spoke up, "Let her go, we've got no other option."

"It's not that easy Sonic, how'd you like it if it was your friend putting there life on the line?" Shadow said angrily

"He's about to find out." said Tails, "I'm going with Rouge." everyone stared at the young fox, "No you're not." said Sonic, "Shoes on the other foot now huh hedgehog?" said Shadow smirking

"Shut up Shadow this is different; there's no reason for Tails to go too." Sonic said

"Yes there is; I know more about how Eggman's machines work than anyone else here, Rouge is gonna need my help if she wants to deactivate the chaos barrier." Tails insisted. After a few more minutes arguing it was finally decided; Rouge and Tails would fly up to the Egg Fortress and disable the chaos barrier, then Shadow would Chaos Control the others up to the ship and together they would stop Eggman.


	6. Loved by the dark one

Chapter 6-Loved by the dark one

Sonic and Shadow watched as Tails and Rouge took off and flew up towards the Egg Fortress, "I don't like this, they shouldn't be going up there." complained Shadow

"At least Rouge can handle herself in a fight, it's Tails I'm worried about." said Sonic

"For god's sake Sonic, all these years and you never taught Tails how to fight?" Shadow said amused

"He **can** fight, he can use Thunder Shoot, but he needs someone to shoot and I really doubt Rouge'll be willing to go through being fired at a robot."

"Well you can worry about Tails all you want, I'm still more concerned about Rouge."

"Why?" asked Sonic, sounding confused, "Why do you care more about Rouge then Tails? They're both your friends."

Shadow paused, he hadn't really thought about it but he did care more about Rouge than, anyone, then it dawned on him why; "It's because she's different then the rest of you, she cares about me, I mean Rouge has a reputation for only caring about herself, she only looks out for number one and doesn't care about others, right?" Shadow began, "Well, that's her rep, yeah." Sonic said

"But think about it; if she doesn't care then why'd she free me from Eggman's base, why'd she help me at all, ever, plus why'd she act that way on the Egg Carrier last week?" Shadow sighed, "The truth is, I.." Shadow sighed again, he hung his head and closed his eyes, "I, think…I…I love her." Meanwhile Rouge and Tails were nearing the Egg Fortress, Rouge was so deep in thought she didn't notice Tails talking to her, "Rouge, are you okay?" he asked, Rouge woke from her daydream, "Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine Tails."

"No you're not." said the young fox, "What's wrong, c'mon, you can tell me."

Rouge sighed, "I was just thinking, about Shadow."

"What about Shadow?"

"Well, it's just he's been acting weird lately."

"You mean like how he blasted Metal Knuckles away when he tried to attack you? I haven't seen Shadow that angry in a long time." Tails said

"Yeah, plus when we were at the beach and I was putting on some sun screen, I was using a mirror to put it on my face and I saw Shadow behind me staring at me."

"Well y'know you didn't seem yourself last week when you ran up and hugged." Tails pointed out, Rouge blushed as she remembered her spur of the moment reaction to seeing Shadow safe, "Well Shadow's my friend, I was relieved to see he was alright." she said unconvincingly, Tails smirked, "You like him don't you?" Rouge turned a deep shade of red, suddenly the turrets on the Egg Fortress locked on and opened fire, Tails and Rouge manoeuvred franticly to avoid the hailstorm of bullets. After a few heart stopping moments the pair finally made it to the fortress, "Okay, let's start looking." said Tails, Rouge knew it wouldn't be that easy. As the pair made their way through the ship Rouge noticed none of the security systems were activating, the turrets weren't shooting and the alarms weren't going off, "Something's wrong, Tails stop." the two stood still, they were standing in a dark, narrow corridor, "D'you hear that?" Rouge asked

"Hear what?" replied Tails, of course Rouge's hearing was much more sensitive then Tails's, the sound Rouge had heard was a metallic clanking. Again her ears picked up the noise, but it was louder, again and again each time getting louder. Eventually Tails asked, "What's that noise?" signifying the clanking was loud enough for him to hear. Suddenly the ground beneath them was torn open as a figure burst up into the corridor, Rouge and Tails fell backwards due to the figure coming up right next to them. Rouge looked up at whoever just burst through the floor, the figure was shielded by two robotic bat wings with a jet on the back of each which were now causing their owner to hover in mid air. Rouge and Tails both stared as they lay on the floor as the figure opened their wings to reveal a robot with a gleaming chassis, the robot had a white head, large ears, black, cold eyes with green irises and the body looked almost exactly the same as Rouge's outfit.

"They're taking too long." said Shadow, "I'm going up there." Shadow began walking towards the Egg Fortress, "If I take off my bracelets then I'll have enough power to spin there." he reached down to take hold of his left bracelet, Sonic grabbed Shadow's wrist, "Forget it Shadow, it's too dangerous."

"I'm the god damn Ultimate Life Form, if it's too dangerous for me then Rouge and Tails don't stand a chance!" Shadow shouted, Sonic looked over at Espio, "Hey Es' see if you can get hold of Tails on that radio you gave him." Espio nodded and took out a small two way radio, he pressed a button and began talking into it, "Tails this is Espio, do you read me?" Espio let go of the button and everyone heard the sound of Rouge being kicked into a wall as Metal Rouge attacked, Tails stood next to a wall in the corridor holding onto the radio, too terrified to use it because he knew if Metal Rouge heard him calling for help he was as good as dead, Rouge slid down the wall, a large cut in he side from where Metal Rouge had kicked her with it's bladed boots. Again Espio tried to get an answer from Tails and again he didn't answer.

"That's it, something's wrong up there and I'm gonna fid out what." said Shadow as he threw his hands out to his sides and let his bracelets slide off

"Shadow wait!" Sonic shouted, but Shadow had already charged up a Spin Dash and took off into the sky. Rouge lay unconscious as Metal Rouge stood over her, then the robot turned it's attention on Tails, who finally regained his ability to move and ran for the door with Metal Rouge chasing him. Shadow landed on the ship's main deck and quickly ran around looking for Tails and Rouge while the gun turrets shot at him.

Eventually Shadow heard Tails shouting and looked over to see him running out of a door with Metal Rouge mere inches behind him, he quickly ran over and Spin Dashed into Metal Rouge, knocking it into a wall and stunning it, "What happened to Rouge?" Shadow asked quickly

"She fought that robot and lost, she's really beat up." Tails answered, Shadow exploded, he dove at Metal Rouge and began bombarding it with punches, Tails just stood by watching, stunned by Shadow's actions, "I've never seen Shadow act like this before." he thought.

Shadow continued to beat the robot even though he'd already completely destroyed it; the head was mangled and the body was torn apart, he then picked up what was left of the head and crushed it in between his hands. Shadow then turned to Tails, "Show me where Rouge is." he spoke calmly, as if he hadn't just completely freaked out and destroyed Metal Rouge with his bare hands. When Shadow and Tails made it back to where Rouge had been she wasn't there, the only thing left of the bat was a small blood pool next to the wall Metal Rouge had kicked her into. Shadow knelt next to the blood pool and dipped his finger into it, "It's still warm, she can't be far." Tails was actually shocked at Shadow's reaction to Rouge disappearing and knowing she was hurt, "Um, Shadow." Shadow stood and turned to face Tails, "I'm sorry." said Tails as he hung his head

"What're you sorry for?" asked Shadow

"I should've done something, I shouldn't have let Metal Rouge hurt Rouge."

Shadow put his hand on Tails's shoulder, "It's not your fault, there was nothing you could've done. This is Doctor Eggman's doing," Shadow paused, "And when I find him-" Shadow took his hand off Tails's shoulder and punched the wall with so much force the metal split.


	7. Beginning of the end

Chapter 7- Beginning of the end

Shadow and Tails silently made their way through the Egg Fortress, making sure to avoid the security cameras and gun turrets. By now the sun was going down and the ship was surrounded by red and orange clouds, finally the pair made it to the control room for security, "Okay Tails, you take down the Chaos Barrier and I'll keep watch at the door." said Shadow as he walked away from the large computer terminal Tails was now operating. After a minute Shadow heard something, there was someone nearby, "Tails, you almost done?" he asked

"Almost, just a little more time." Tails answered

"We might not have more time." Shadow said calmly

"I got it!" Tails shouted triumphantly, Shadow looked up and saw an electrical grid appear around the Egg Fortress and then fade. Tails walked out of the control room and took out his radio, "Espio, this is Tails, the Chaos Barrier's down now."

"Roger that." Espio replied over the radio

"I need to go back down there to bring everyone up, stay in the control room." ordered Shadow, Tails nodded as Shadow took out the green Chaos Emerald and warped back down to the desert. When Shadow reappeared everyone was waiting for him, Sonic walked over to Shadow and handed him his bracelets back, "Thanks Sonic." Shadow said as he put them back on

"So what happened?" asked Sonic

"Eggman's got Rouge and she's hurt, that's all I know." Shadow said, he tried to sound like he didn't care but Sonic could see Shadow was worried, Sonic put his hand on Shadow's shoulder, "Hey don't worry, we'll get her back." Shadow nodded and then Chaos Controlled everyone up to the Egg Fortress.

When the group arrived at the ship Shadow walked over to the control room and found Tails was now gone as well, "God damn it! I never should've left him!" Shadow shouted, then he heard Tails shouting, everyone hurriedly followed Tails's voice, with Sonic and Shadow running ahead. Finally the group reached a large, flat, empty deck near the top of the ship, at the opposite end of the deck was the control room for the entire Egg Fortress, above it was a tall spire. Lying in the middle of the deck was Tails, and standing over him was his robotic double. Metal Tails looked almost exactly the same as the real Tails, the main difference was Metal Tails only had one tail. Sonic saw Tails lying on the ground with Metal Tails getting ready to finish him and ran as fast as he could to help his friend, just as Metal Tails was about to grab Tails he was knocked ten feet away by Sonic's Spin Dash.

Sonic helped a terrified Tails to his feet while Metal Tails recovered from Sonic's attack, then the robot's tail split into four and they all started spinning and Metal Tails began to hover. The whole area echoed with the laughter of Eggman as he flew over the deck in his Egg-mobile, Sonic and Shadow both gritted their teeth at the sight of the doctor, "Well I see you've met Metal Tails." Eggman said smugly, "This Tails isn't the one that helped to destroy Station Square though. No this is the first of my new advanced models, you see, after Knuckles defeated Metal Knuckles I realised that simply duplicating you wouldn't be enough, so I enhanced the programming and now each robot is superior to their counterparts." Eggman explained.

"So you upgraded them, big deal." Sonic said, "I can still take this thing." Sonic looked at Metal Tails and the two readied themselves to fight, then Tails stepped in front of Sonic, facing Metal Tails, "Tails, what're you doing?" asked Sonic

"I've gotta fight him myself Sonic." Tails answered, sounding very determined

"No way Tails, he's more advanced than you, you can't beat him." argued Sonic

"But I've gotta try." Tails then began spinning his tails and flew at Metal Tails, who did the same. The two collided and began fighting in mid air, after a few punches and kicks Eggman shouted, "Metal Tails, activate weaponry!"

Metal Tails responded in a voice that sounded a lot like Tails, only it sounded cold and mechanical, "Acknowledged. Hyper Cannon fire." Metal Tails's chest then opened to reveal a cannon which fired a beam of blue energy at Tails, who was barely able to get out of the way. Tails flew above Metal Tails, who was still firing energy beams at him, "There's gotta be a way to stop him," Tails though, "That's it; my Dummy Rings." Tails reached into his glove and pulled out three Dummy Rings and threw them at Metal Tails. The rings hit Metal Tails and stunned it, then Tails flew straight at his double and punched it as hard as he could. Metal Tails fell to the ground and Tails landed next to it, then Sonic and Knuckles ran over to him, "Let's finish this thing off with Thunder Shoot." Sonic said, Tails nodded and picked the two up and flew into the air as Metal Tails recovered and began to fly up after Tails. Tails threw Sonic and Knuckles at Metal Tails with as much force as he could muster and the two crashed into the robot, sending it rocketing into the deck. The three friends landed not far from what was left of Metal Tails and the others quickly ran over to them, "How dare you destroy my marvellous robot!?" shouted Eggman, "That's it," Eggman pressed a button on his console, "Release all robots, now!" he shouted.

Suddenly the deck began to move, it split into two halves and moved apart to reveal a large room underneath, inside the room was an enormous machine surrounded by at least a thousand Egg Pawns, a door on the machine opened and out stepped Metal Espio, Vector, Shadow and Big and new versions of Metal Tails, Rouge and Knuckles, all the robots then leapt out of the room and onto the main deck. Most of the robots didn't look that different from their originals, in fact they looked almost identical, there were a few small differences; Metal Espio had a light blue circle in the palm of his left hand, Metal Vector had spikes around his wrists and blades coming out all the way down his back and Metal Big had sharp claws and his tail was like a club with spikes around the end, "Metal Sonic, bring out my little bargaining chip!" Eggman called out, Metal Sonic then appeared on top of the control room for the ship with Rouge in his hand, she had been bound and gagged. When Shadow saw Rouge he could barely contain his anger, her mascara had run, meaning she had been crying and she had a bruise on her face, the wound on her side was still open as well, "Now here's the deal hedgehog." Eggman said, "You have four Chaos Emeralds and I want them, so you give me the emeralds and I'll give you the girl."

"No way." said Sonic

"Deal." Shadow quickly said

"What?! Are you crazy? We can't give Eggman the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic said

"Back off Sonic, I'm trying to protect Rouge and I won't let you get in my way." Shadow threatened

"Would you listen to yourself Shadow, you're acting like you're better then me."

"You know what I've had just about enough of you Sonic so how 'bout we finish this here."

While the two hedgehogs argued Eggman watched excitedly

"Fine by me."

"So we're in agreement then?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Sonic and Shadow then both started spinning around each other so fast they started a tornado; they were both performing Blue Tornado and Black Tornado at the same time. All the Egg Pawns were sucked out of the machine room and into the tornado, and so was Eggman, all the metal doubles and their originals managed to hang onto parts of the ship to keep themselves from being sucked in. Finally Sonic and Shadow split apart, Sonic performed Blue Tornado and blew the larger tornado over the edge of the Egg Fortress while Shadow spun towards Metal Sonic and Rouge, he activated Chaos Control and knocked Metal Sonic down without hurting Rouge, Shadow picked Rouge up and leapt down onto the main deck before taking off her gag and the ropes around her, "What the hell just happened?" Rouge asked

"Sonic and I call that move the Super Tornado, we used it to get rid of the doctor and the robots." Shadow answered, then Sonic appeared next to Shadow and Rouge, "We're not done yet." he said pointing at the Metal doubles advancing towards them.


	8. The Final Battle

Okay, just so you know this is a really short chapter and it's really rubbish, I can't write decent fight scenes to save my life. I'm sorry. :(

Chapter 8-The Final Battle 

The eight friends gathered together in front of their robotic counterparts, "Okay, everyone take your own robotic self, that's the closest to even we're gonna get." said Sonic, then Metal Sonic leapt off the roof of the control room and landed in front of the robots

"Here we go." Sonic said as the robots charged, both teams clashed, everyone fighting themselves. Metal Espio and Espio were using martial arts to attack each other while Metal Vector and Big were using their strength to fight their opponents, then Metal Espio revealed what the blue circle on his hand was for; he aimed his hand at Espio and a blue beam of energy fired from it, Espio dodged the attack and then activated his invisibility, suddenly Metal Espio disappeared as well, he could become invisible too. Meanwhile Shadow and Metal Shadow were throwing Chaos Spears at each other, "How the hell can they use our special attacks?" Shadow shouted

"I don't know but we can't give up." replied Sonic. Eventually Rouge delivered a kick to Metal Rouge's head and destroyed it, Knuckles punched a hole through Metal Knuckles's chest, Vector used his strength to tear Metal Vector apart, Espio sliced off Metal Espio's arm with Ninja Stars and finished it with a Karate Chop which split it's head in half, Big used his explosive fishing lure to blow Metal Big apart, Tails grabbed the cannon from the destroyed Metal Tails and used it to blast a hole through the new Metal Tails and Shadow eventually proved too fast for Metal Shadow by Spin Dashing into it and finishing it with Chaos Spear. Sonic and Metal Sonic were still fighting, they were jumping around the ship and using kick attacks on each other in mid air. Finally Sonic Spin Dashed into Metal Sonic, the hit caused Metal to fall onto the deck of the ship, severely damaged. With Metal Sonic out Sonic thought it was finally over, suddenly a bullet narrowly missed the blue hedgehog, Sonic spun round to see Eggman standing behind him holding a gun, "Hand over your Chaos Emerald right now Sonic." Eggman demanded, before Eggman could react Sonic and Shadow had ran over to him, knocked the gun out of his hand and were now holding him down, "Alright Egg head, whaddya want the Chaos Emeralds for this time?" Sonic asked angrily, Eggman had trouble answering because Shadow had his hand round his throat, "I..need..them to..power my..robot making machine, how else do you think I would be able to get enough power to create perfect robotic duplicates of you all?"

"And what about the Master Emerald?" Knuckles asked

"It generates even more power, it's how I was able to enhance my robots." Eggman replied

"So are the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald inside the machine?" Sonic asked, Eggman nodded

"How many Chaos Emeralds do you have?" asked Shadow

"Three." answered Eggman.

Unknown to the others Metal Sonic had regained consciousness and snuck into the machine room.


	9. Super Sonic

Again this is a really bad chapter because I can't write fights. I'M SORRY!!

Chapter 9- Supersonic

Sonic and Shadow let Eggman up and Sonic glared at the doctor, "Okay Eggman, I'm gonna go and get the Chaos Emeralds and you're gonna stay here and not try anything funny."

Sonic then walked over to the gap in the deck and was about to jump down into the machine room when suddenly Metal Sonic exploded out of the robot generating machine and flew up to the top of the spire on top of the control room

"Metal, what're you doing?!" shouted Eggman, Metal responded by laughing in his usual cold mechanical tone, "I have absorbed all the energy from the three Chaos Emeralds, and now I will absorb the energy from the other four. Chaos Control." suddenly Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles's emeralds appeared above Metal Sonic in a flash of light and began floating around the robot, who began to glow slightly as the energy flowed into him.

Eventually the emeralds lost their glow and fell onto the deck far below, Metal Sonic laughed loudly, "Finally I will become the ultimate me once again." Metal then raised his right hand and aimed it skyward, the sun had gone down long ago and now black clouds swirled around the spire Metal stood on. Suddenly a bolt of lighting struck the spire and a large chunk of the Egg Fortress exploded, the parts flew around in the air and then began to circulate around a ball of white light floating high in the air. Sonic and the others could only watch as the ship's parts began to fit together to form a giant, monstrous robotic creature; "Metal Overlord." said Eggman, terrified (See the final story of Sonic Heroes to see what Metal Overlord looks like)

Metal Overlord, now complete, took off and flew around the Egg Fortress. It started to rain heavily as Sonic walked over to the Chaos Emeralds and picked them up, they had lost all their energy and were now useless, "How're we supposed to stop Metal now?" asked Sonic

"I've got an idea," said Knuckles, "If Metal hasn't drained the energy from the Master Emerald then I could use it to restore the Chaos Emeralds, but I'll need time."

"I can use my robots to distract Metal Sonic while you restore the emeralds." said Eggman.

A minute later every Egg Pawn on the Egg Fortress stood on the edge of the ship shooting at Metal Overlord while Knuckles stood in front of the Master Emerald with the seven Chaos Emeralds lying around Sonic and Shadow. Knuckles closed his eyes and concentrated,

"_The servers are the seven chaos_

_Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart_

_The controller is the one that unifies the chaos_

_Only you can do this; Restore the Chaos Emeralds."_

The Master Emerald began to glow and the seven Chaos Emeralds rose off the ground and began to glow as well. The seven emeralds floated above Sonic and Shadow and Knuckles walked over to the two hedgehogs, "Ready guys?" asked Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow nodded and the trio each held out their left hands and put them on top of each other, the Chaos Emeralds started spinning around the three friends and suddenly there was an enormous explosion of yellow light as Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles changed into their super forms.

The three looked over to the edge of the Egg Fortress and saw Metal Overlord destroying the Egg Pawns, they turned to each other, nodded and took off towards the gargantuan robot.

When Metal Overlord saw Sonic he was both shocked and angered, "What? How could you have used the power of the Chaos Emeralds when I drained them of their energy?!"

Sonic smirked, "What's the matter Metal, are we too much for ya?" Metal Overlord roared, "Now I will finally show you I am more powerful than you, prepare to die, Sonic the Hedgehog." Metal then began firing crystals at the trio, "Guys, I'll take care of this." Sonic said as he began to spin, "Shadow, gimme a boost." Shadow then kicked Sonic at the oncoming crystals and he blasted through them. Then Metal grabbed a chunk of the Egg Fortress and tore it away from the rest of the ship and threw it towards Sonic, "I'll take it." said Knuckles, the echidna flew towards the large piece of debris coming at him and effortlessly punched through it. Now Metal Overlord held out his claw and his fingers launched themselves like torpedoes at the three heroes, "Now it's my turn." said Shadow, "Chaos Spear!" thousands of Chaos Spears appeared and not only destroyed the missiles but hit Metal as well, "That was for hurting Rouge you metallic bastard!" shouted Shadow as Metal reeled from the attack.

"It's not over yet." cried Metal Overlord, "I have yet to unleash my true power." Metal then began to shake as light swirled around him, "He's trying to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds, we gotta stop him now!" shouted Sonic, Shadow looked over at him, "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Shadow asked, Sonic smirked as he realised Shadow's plan, "Right, let's go, Knuckles, get ready."

Sonic and Shadow took off as Knuckles yelled, "Ready for what?" The two hedgehogs flew up towards Metal and began to spin around him in a Super Tornado. Metal Overlord was stunned by the tornado and Sonic and Shadow flew up above Metal, "Now Knuckles; Fire Dunk!" Sonic shouted, Knuckles nodded and flew up to join the two, who began to spin in preparation, Knuckles held out his hands and Sonic and Shadow began to spin round them, then Knuckles threw the two hedgehogs at Metal with as much force as possible.

Sonic and Shadow both crashed through Metal's arms and destroyed them and Knuckles charged through the robot's chest and punched a hole through it, as Metal screeched in pain Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles gathered together and all three started to spin (Knuckles **can** spin, see the old Sonic games) and a ball of energy formed around them. The trio rocketed towards Metal Overlord and hit him full force, completely decimating the robot.


	10. The end and the beginning

Chapter 10- The end and the beginning

Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles landed back on the Egg Fortress in their normal forms. Rouge ran over and leapt at Shadow and hugged him, Eggman meanwhile was sneaking away, but Knuckles saw him, "Not so fast Eggman," Eggman ran away, "Get back here!" Knuckles shouted as he chased after the doctor. Shadow and Rouge were just standing there in each other's arms gazing at one another, "Rouge, there's something I need to tell you." Shadow finally said, "I.." Sonic nudged Shadow in the side, "Just tell her." he whispered, Shadow glared at Sonic before turning his gaze back to Rouge, who was now blushing, "Rouge, I..I love you." the two leaned closer to each other until their lips finally met. When the two broke apart Shadow took out the grey Chaos Emerald he'd managed to grab before the emeralds scattered and Chaos Controlled everyone back to the Station Square, including the Master Emerald which Knuckles came looking for after he caught up with Eggman.

Later that day everyone had gathered on a hilltop to celebrate Eggman's defeat, almost everyone Sonic knew was there. Shadow and Rouge were sat next to a tree away from the party looking up at the stars, Rouge leaned over and rested her head on Shadow's shoulder and Shadow put his arm round Rouge, meanwhile Sonic and Amy stood not far away watching, "You see that Sonic?" Amy asked

"Yeah, Shadow gettin' better." Sonic answered

"Why can't we be like that." Amy asked as she stared at the couple, dreaming of her and Sonic being in the same scenario

"Oh boy, I know that look, I'm outta here." Sonic ran away with Amy chasing after while Shadow and Rouge kissed, "I love you Rouge." Shadow said

"I love you too Shadow." Rouge replied as she stared at the black hedgehog, "Y'know Shadow, I think this is the start of something really special." the two huddled closer and continued to gaze at the stars while dreaming about a future with each other.

Oh my god that was the worst chapter I've ever written. I'm sorry, that's all I can say. Anyone who actually bothered to read this far, I thank you for reading and apologize for the crappyness of this fic.


End file.
